Caged Bird
by Mary B. Wolf
Summary: Number six: "Say it for me, say it to me and I'll leave this life behind me." Savin' Me, Nickelback. Oneshot songfics. Mostly unrelated. Genfics, KakaSaku, NaruHina, other pairings.
1. Catch Your Eye

Disclaimer: I own neither Naruto (nor Hinata) nor Skillet. Lyrics are adapted from _Yours to Hold_ from their _Comatose_ album.

_I see you standing here, but you're so far away._

She can see that distant look in his eyes again. He's just standing there, gazing off into space, but she knows he's seeing his past, reliving the pain. He's a million miles away.

_Starving for your attention but you don't even know my name._

_Fix your gaze on me!_ she screams silently. _I can help you! Let me know you!_ She's right in front of him; how can he not see her?

_You're going through so much but I know that I could be the one to hold you._

_Let me hold you; let me help you,_ she pleads in her mind.

_Don't you know that I could be the one to hold you? I'm stretching but you're just out of reach._

She puts her arms out to take him into her embrace, but she can't reach him, not even when he's _right there!_

_I see you walking by, your hair always hiding your face, and I wonder why you've been hurting._

_Why won't you look me in the eye?_ She longs to reach out and brush those yellow locks out of his crystalline blue eyes and get him to look at her. But she doesn't, because when he's around, she can hardly breath or move, let alone touch him. He's in pain but she can't even move to help him.

_I wish I had some way to say... every single day, I find it hard to say..._

Why does her voice stop working when he's near her? Why won't her mouth open and spill out all those words she's been dying to say?

_You will see someday that all along the way, I was yours to hold._

_I could be the one who would hold you. Someday, you'll see me,_ she thinks when she sees that distant look. _I could be the one who could help to ease the burden._

_You should know that I'm ready when you're ready for me._

_Will you ever be ready for me?_ she wonders. Can she be bold?

_I'm waiting for the right time, waiting for the day I catch your eye._

_I'll catch your eye one day, I swear it._ A cut across her palm seals the oath in blood.

_Catch your eye._

She's tired of the waiting game, but she isn't sure whether to slap him or kiss him. She can see him; he's sitting there again, staring blankly into his near-empty ramen bowl. It's now or never.

_Catch your eye._

Her palm tingles - it's the one she bled to make her vow. She walks up to him.

_Catch your eye._

She slaps him - not hard but enough to get him to look at her.

_Catch your eye._

He looks at her, confused. This look gains more prevalence when Hinata leans forward and tentatively touches her lips to Naruto's.

_Catch your eye._

"Looks like I finally caught your eye," she says, pulling back after a moment in which he begins to respond.

He finally realizes the truth. "All this time?"

"I knew someday, you'd see... I've been here, all along, just waiting. I was tired of waiting."

But she doesn't have to wait anymore, doesn't have to stretch to reach him anymore, doesn't have to keep silent anymore, because he's hers to hold now.

_Catch your eye._


	2. Those Nights

_Those Nights_ by Skillet is really a great song for this couple. You should listen to it. Don't own either of them.

* * *

She was desperate to keep him awake, alert and focused.

"Remember all those night when I'd climb in through your window and the only light would come from your TV and we'd talk for hours because they were fighting?" Sakura spoke through the sobs and pants, trying her best to make sure Kakashi's eyes didn't close.

"Your par... parents fought... a lot... in those... days, didn't... they?" he laughed weakly. Blood spattered onto her arm and chest near his mouth, but she didn't care. He had to stay alive, they had to get back to Konoha before dusk, so he could get medical attention - more than she could provide with her nearly-gone chakra and her pack swept away in the river's tide. He was talking lucidly. He would make it.

"Yes, they did," she cried. "But not nearly as much as I was over there." He coughed up a little more blood. "Sometimes we'd just watch those stupid late-night sitcoms and laugh so we'd stay sane. We both had so many problems back then."

"Still... do... " he coughed. More blood flecked her.

"Or the radio would play all night, and I'd sing or you would, but never the both of us together," she panted. "Why was that?"

The tree branches flew by underfoot and Sakura clutched Kakashi closer to her, unwilling to even think of her life without him in it.

"We'd race, too, across the village, and then collapse in your apartment, not sure whether we should laugh or cry."

She was a bloody, dirty mess, and she knew it, but all that mattered was getting him home, safe.

"Those nights belonged to us, through all the hard times, and there was never anything wrong with us, not on those nights, when we were together," she sobbed out.

"They... are... ours... Sakura-chan," he gasped. "They always... will... be. There's nothing wrong... with... us... "

"We've faced it all together," she gasped, tears dripping from her chin. "We'll live forever and never die, stand and not fall, right? Oh, I wish those nights would last."

She felt a chuckle deep in his chest, and heard him say, "They... will... " but the pleasure she took was muted by the joy of the sight of those huge red gates. She picked up her pace, diverting some of the chakra in her arms, which she was using to carry the man she loved, to her feet to push harder from tree to tree, until she stood before the guard.

Her chakra was nearly depleted and she fell, still crushing Kakashi to her chest.

"Those nights," she whispered.

"Are... ours... with more... coming," he promised raggedly.

Their vision went black.

-

She woke up in the hospital with a medic over her, pumping chakra into her heart. Another stood over Kakashi, doing the same in the other bed.

"Oh, thank God, you're awake!" Her medic was Shizune. Tsunade was working on Kakashi.

"Kakashi - "

"Is fine," Tsunade said, shutting off her power centers. "Go back to sleep."

Sakura's eyes slid closed. When they opened again, she saw her lover with his odd pair trained on her, glassy from the medication he was on. She stood shakily from her bed and crawled into his. Kissing him on the cheek, she whispered, "Those nights."

"Those nights kept me alive," he answered softly.


	3. Fly Away

'Things Left Unsaid' by Disciple, because I'm ditzy and forgot. Thanks to -M.x for reminding me of that. The title of the story, however, _is_ Fly Away because I changed the theme a little. Don't own Disciple or Naruto and co.

* * *

"I love you. There, I said it. We're face-to-face and I said it... but that doesn't change the facts. You're lying in a hospital bed and your eyes are closed. Open them, please? So we can talk again?"

Kakashi's pleas went unheard; Sakura's eyes remained firmly closed and the machine that was currently breathing for her made the only sound. He wanted to bash it to pieces and make her draw her own air and look at him.

"You were fine a few days ago, you know. Talking to me about the book I got you all that time ago. That, I think, was the beginning of the end, because you, you little con artist, you wanted to find out what it was about and then discuss it with me," he said, his deep, slow voice desperate. She had to be hearing him. "It would turn to everything open and last for hours on end. What I'd give to be able to do that again."

He ran out of words and let silence reign, just holding her hand and trying to keep his hatred of hospitals at bay by keeping his mind and senses focused on her.

At midnight, he started talking again, softly and painfully. It was not a subject he was very willing to consider, but the words had to be said.

"If you fly away tonight, you have to know... I really do love you, and I'm really sorry I never told you that when you could hear me. I hope you can hear me. I hope you can feel my hand holding yours, because I'd feel stupid if you couldn't. Please wake up, Sakura, please!"

She didn't but he thought he saw an eyelid flutter. He was quiet again for about three hours, until the thoughts that raced to condemn him and blame him for her injuries could be ordered into something else.

"You were the only one who took the time, after so many years of people giving up on me... you spoke of love and life and hope. It was different, you know. For so long, no one gave any thought to me because I resisted so much... they just go tired of trying. You never quit, though. You never gave up on me. Why?" He stopped, like he expected answer. When she didn't give him one, he sighed heavily. "Well, thanks for not letting me weigh myself down. If it wasn't for you, there would be nothing left for me: no grace, no hope, no love, no life. Thank you. I love you."

Dawn came before he started talking to her again.

"I've been here all night, watching you... not sleep... hmm... be comatose? That'll have to work... and watching your breath. But is it really you or just this machine that's making it seem like you wake up and we could finish our discussion of chapter six? We never got to talk about their child. I know you'd have some strong opinions about that." He stopped to study her. A small smile touched his masked lips at her serene beauty, even the ugly stitches and snowy bandages marred her face and body.

But the most curious thing happened then.

Her EKG stopped beeping regularly and dropped to a flat, ugly note. The breathing machine still pumped air into her lungs, but there was no heart beat to circulate the oxygen. The monitors connected to her brain were going haywire, too.

Kakashi didn't understand any of what was going on, but before he could ask, medics came running into the room, screaming for crash carts and Tsunade. A pair of them detached from the mob and firmly removed him from the room. He went with them numbly, not hearing what they were trying to tell him.

Standing in front of the sterile white door and stubbornly refusing to move - to the point that the medics and nurses had to shove their way past - he waited and tried to listen to what was happening.

Hours after he was shoved out, the medics filed out, to be replaced by a fresh team. He cornered one and demanded information.

"Well, Hatake-san, she's in a coma. She started to flatline and we came to revive her. Hokage-sama arrived through the window and we got her breathing again, as well as a faint heartbeat. Her internal injuries are massive and she's lost a lot of blood. Medics can't replace that, and she's got no donor matches that we can find. The medics just got the boot and have been told to rest before we end up in here ourselves for exhaustion," the blue-haired young man answered.

"Is she going to make it?" Kakashi's frantic tone seemed to unnerve the young medic before him. He answered in a stutter.

"Uh... sh-she has int-internal bleeding. It's b-bad and she'll die if we can't find a way to get the blood out of her brain. It's pooled there, creating dangerous pressure - "

A shriek of rage cut off whatever else he had to say.

"No, Haruno! No! I swear to any god who's listening, Sakura, if you die, I - swear - I - will - kill - you, dammit! Don't you dare give up on me!" The chakra level flared angrily, followed by several muffled thumps and another scream. "Get me medics who don't pass out at the sight of blood! Shizune, go, dammit!"

Several uniformed men and women shoved past Kakashi and his lecturer, carried out the limp forms of their colleagues and then joined Tsunade in the hospital room.

A few more hours went by. Kakashi eventually let the medic go; the outlook was not good at all.

Sakura needed a miracle, and if wasn't found, she would die. More medical ninja were called, as well as doctors of every caliber, and nurses hauling trays and supplies.

An hour after the fourth team went in, however, there came an enraged cry that also conveyed uncontrollable grief and disbelief.

Shizune pushed out the door, looking vaguely surprised to see Kakashi, who returned the feeling.

"When did you get here?" he asked blankly.

"Right away. Came in through the window," she said. "Sakura... she's... Kakashi, she's dead... " She broke down into hysterical sobs and collapsed on the doorframe. Only her reflexes caught her; she dragged herself up difficultly.

He had already made it to Sakura's bedside and was looking down at her. Tsunade was doing her best not to glare hostilely at him as she hunched protectively over her student's body.

The bandages were gone from her and the stitches had been burned away, leaving only thin white marks where they had been. Despite that, she was still the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. He reached out and brushed his fingertips gently over her cheek, tracing the tiny scars, and over her lips.

It was unbearably hard to accept, but he knew the risks of the life as well as anyone - as well as she had. She had touched his life for the better. He knew he couldn't squander any of the time he had left. Too bad he had squandered too much already - too much that had cost him the love of his life.

Like Tsunade wasn't there, he replaced the fingers on her lips with his own. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

Kakashi stood there so long, losing track of time, that when he looked up again, it was dark outside.

_Almost two full days in a hospital, fully concious, for this girl,_ he thought. _But there are still a few things I've got to say._

"So... I guess this is goodbye. But only for now. I have to die sooner or later, too. We'll see each other again, but things'll be different. I'll hold you like I should have, I'll kiss you and you'll kiss me back, and when you smile at me, I'll melt into a puddle. I'll tell you I love you and I expect to hear it back." He pressed a kiss to her forehead, which was now cold to the touch.

"In the meantime, there are a few people I have to speak to. While I'm here, you know, before I can see you again. Show I care. I'm sorry I never did that for you. I love you, Sakura."

Dawn the next day came with a sorrowful announcement.

"At approximately 3:38 yesterday afternoon, Haruno Sakura died of wounds inflicted during a skirmish with Stone. She died of battle injuries incurred in the service of Konohagakure Village and as such, her name will be added to the memorial. The funeral will be held tomorrow at 2:00 P.M."

Nearly everyone in the village attended her funeral. Ninja who had been treated after injuries at the hospital or who had been teamed with her, civilians who got the best treatment for their ailments, and her teammates, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sai. They spoke of her to everyone they saw, how skilled, how strong, how determined she was.

Few tears were shed among the shinobi, and the civilians weren't nearly as close to her death as others, but the sky sobbed for all of them. When they took their leave of her funeral, most retired to the bars, taverns and pubs to mourn in another way.

From that day forward, there was a marked difference in the behavior of the Copy Ninja. He spoke more easily with people, told them a little more. He was still formidable as ever as a warrior for his village, tracking those who had killed Sakura - at Tsunade's request, with Shizune, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sai with him - and dying only a few months after destroying them during a battle with their home village, and his name was added to the stone next to hers.

Sure enough, when Kakashi saw Sakura again in the afterlife, he melted when her lips curled into that smile he loved so much, and he hugged her tight and kissed her, and she did the same. When he murmured "I love you" in her ear, he heard it back from her and they set off to see if you could get married after you were dead.

No matter how many times he tried to apologize, though, she would smack him gently in the head and then kiss his cheek, telling him, "I flew away, but you came after me. You don't need to apologize. I love you, too."


	4. When I Kissed the Teacher

...So...hmm...yeah, I know I said not to expect anything 'til I was caught up with the manga. Once again, I have _lied_. You get used to that, though. But really, no more. I just couldn't resist this. ABBA's 'When I Kissed the Teacher.' Thanks to kakashidiot for introducing me to ABBA with your fic 'Does Your Mother Know?' because the consequence of that is...well, this. And my newfound love of ABBA. For kakashidiot, who really needs to finish 'Letters of Tomorrow.' With love.

* * *

_They had never seen the teacher blush_

_He looked like a fool_

_Nearly petrified 'cos he was taken by surprise_

It was easier to take Hatake Kakashi by surprise than make him blush. It was even more difficult to get him to freeze in place.

With one simple gesture, Haruno Sakura had managed to do all three.

_I was in a trance_

_Suddenly I took the chance_

Her mind had blanked out; she saw an opportunity. An odd one, to be sure, but an opportunity nonetheless.

_Leaning over me_

_He was trying to explain the laws of geometry_

_And I couldn't help it_

He was trying to tell her what had gone wrong with her shuriken. It had bounced off a tree, ricocheted into another and fallen to the ground.

_I just had to kiss the teacher_

Her lips pressed against his, effectively silencing the rest of his lecture.

_Couldn't quite believe his eyes_

_When I kissed the teacher_

His eye had widened, and hers had, too.

"Uh…I-I…s-sorry," she stuttered, and then her lungs stopped working.

_As I held my breath, the world stood still_

_But then he just smiled_

_I was in the seventh heaven when I kissed the teacher_

His signature eye curve was the only sign of reaction he gave—once he'd regained his composure.

Sakura let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, and relaxed into a smile of her own. It _had_ been rather nice. _Kinda like…seventh heaven?_

_Everybody screamed when I kissed the teacher_

A strangled noise flew from Naruto's throat. She supposed it was supposed to have been a scream of some sort.

_They thought they must have dreamed when I kissed the teacher_

Sasuke mumbled something about hoping he'd been dreaming, and wandered off blankly. Faint noises of retching echoed around the clearing from the underbrush.

_What a crazy day, when I kissed the teacher_

_All sense had flown away when I kissed the teacher_

She had woken up nearly half an hour later than she'd planned that morning, leaving no time for a proper wake-up shower. Hurrying through an almost-cold one, she had no time to make breakfast, and barely enough to get a lunch for herself.

As she'd flung the door open, intent on rushing out and pounding down the stairs, she could only come to a grinding halt at the sight of the young man raising his hand to knock on the door.

"What?" she'd growled.

"Ts-Tsunade-sama w-wants to s-see you, Sakura-san," the boy had stuttered out, and promptly fled.

The detour to the Godaime's office cost her even more precious time. After several assurances that she could fill in for Shizune during her maternity leave—"really, shishou, it's not a problem; in fact, I'm honored"—she blazed a path to the training grounds.

Only ten minutes early, and only slightly less frazzled.

When Kakashi had showed up, only an hour and a half late, with some pitiful excuse about a freak storm and rabid barracudas, she hadn't been able to summon up her usual 'LIAR' along with Naruto.

And then the incident, where her brain had fully shut down. All sense completely _gone._

_One of these days_

_Gonna tell him I dream of him every night_

Because if her wits had been with her, she certainly never would have done _that_.

Even though he had been invading her dreams and thoughts more and more often lately, and she was beginning to care about him in a way entirely inappropriate for teachers and students.

Then a smile spread across her face, as she contemplated the possible repercussions of her actions.

_Gonna show him I care_

_Gonna teach him a lesson alright_

She was going to show him just how much she cared for him. She was gonna teach _him_ a thing or two.

She smiled.


	5. The Last Night

I haven't updated this in a long while. I miss working on it. This has been done for quite some time, but I never got to post it. I started listening to this CD again, knowing it makes me want to write angsty KakaSaku...what can I say? I love it.

The song is _The Last Night_ by Skillet, from Comatose. So many of the songs on that album are perfect KakaSaku. I don't claim ownership to any of this stuff--Skillet and their music, or Naruto. They belong to their respective owners. Which is not me.

If you haven't heard this song, go listen to it. This'll make a lot more sense if you do.

Also, no updates for anything during November. NaNoWriMo. And, yes, I _am_ hard at work on the next installment of _The Promise_, I promise.

With love,  
--Wolfie-lou

* * *

A knock on the window late one night was what drew Kakashi from his book. He smiled a little; Sakura had picked up his habit of avoiding doors.

As he opened the pane of glass, however, he frowned. That wasn't the only habit of his she'd taken on. She had begun internalizing everything and tearing herself apart with guilt, though her "tearing apart" was more physical.

He saw the marks, even if no one else did.

"Good evening, Sakura," he greeted her. "What brings you to my apartment so late?"

"I came to say goodbye," she said, turning away.

"Do you have a mission?" Kakashi murmured.

"No," she answered. The word was hardly more than a sniffle.

Alarmed, he asked, "Sakura, what's wrong?" and when he didn't get a reply, he turned her around.

"I didn't want you to see me cry," she whispered. "But I won't be crying anymore," she added. "This is my last night feeling like a total loser."

"Are you alright?" he questioned, already knowing what she would answer and what the truth actually was.

"I'm fine." Her voice was hard, cold.

"You're lying," Kakashi said. Before she could deny it, his hand had darted out, grabbed her wrist and shoved the long black sleeve of her shirt up to her elbow, exposing the ugly red cuts on her wrist and forearm. "People who are fine don't go around slicing themselves open!"

Sakura yanked her arm away. "Why did you ask, then, if you already knew the answer?" she demanded angrily. She wiped tears away with the back of her petite hand.

"Sakura, look at me," he commanded, waiting patiently as her eyes skittered nervously around his bedroom and up his frame to his face, to look into his eye. "You were right about this being your last night, but wrong about being a loser." She looked away. "Look me in the eye, Sakura, so I know you know what I'm saying to you is true." This time, he didn't wait for her to look up. He put a finger under her chin and drew her head up to meet his gaze.

"How can I be okay?" she breathed. "They keep lying to me - _you're okay, just give it time_. I can't give it time, dammit! My best friends are dead! It's not a phase and I'm tired of taking the blame for this. So tired."

"People are blaming you?" She nodded. "That's their own fault. I know it's not yours. They don't know you like I do; most people don't know you at all. They haven't bothered and it's their own loss." He let another sigh pass through brain but stopped it before if left his lips.

_How do these things happen to me?_ he wondered. _And why do I let them?_

_Because I know something you don't,_ some inner voice taunted. _A deep, dark secret._

"I'll be there, Sakura," Kakashi said. "Wherever you want me to be. Whatever you need me to be."

_Was that the deep, dark secret?_ he asked that inner voice. It didn't answer. _You didn't know anything I didn't. I want to be this girl's. I want to belong to her._

Sakura's breathing broke and she dissolved sobs. He tugged her into an embrace and held her against his chest, not caring that she was covering his shirt in snot and tears.

"I'm not letting you go, Sakura, and I'm not letting you say goodbye, either," he told her fiercely. "I'll help you hold on, and if you let me, I'll be your reason why."

Sakura's shaking doubled. "Okay," she cried, nearly laughing. "Okay."

"Come with me," he said, drawing away from her, but twining her fingers with his. He led her across his tiny room to his bed and settled down with her, fitting his body to the shape of hers as she continued to cry until she fell asleep. Kakashi smoothed her hair away from her face and kissed her cheek.

"I'm sorry you had to spend so many nights alone. Last night was the last of them without me by your side."


	6. Savin' Me

_Show me what it's like  
To be the last one standing  
And teach me wrong from right  
And I'll show you what I can be  
Say it for me  
Say it to me  
And I'll leave this life behind me  
Say it if it's worth saving me_

—Saving Me – Nickelback

* * *

She can see him; he's crawling on his hands and knees, in the cage they've placed him in. He came back on his own, but he's not safe.

_Unfit for public,_ the words rang through her mind over and over, spilling from the mouth of her mentor like the slow poison she is known for. _Traitor. Untrustworthy._

He whispers to her. Of course he can sense her, even though he's blind now. His eyes betrayed him, just as he betrayed their home.

_They can't take my soul,_ he says. _These bars of iron. They can't hold me in if I don't want them to. All I need…_

Even as he tells her these things, while she sits vigil outside his cage, he stinks of fear. He knows he can't be let out. Even as he reaches for her, he shrinks from the bars of iron that hold him in because he wants them to.

* * *

He's been let out. He's been deemed safe, even though he's under constant watch. The bars are no longer iron, but they're no less tangible. The entire village hates him.

Only one person can save him.

Standing on the ledge of the balcony of his upper-story apartment building is silly—he's the best there is in the village, a fall from an upper story won't do anything to him that medics—that _she_—can't fix.

So instead he climbs down, climbs back into his apartment, and picks up his shiny new headband and hurls it against the wall.

_Stand beside me,_ he'd pleaded with her, _be beside me, teach me. I'll show you that I'm still worth your forgiveness. Say it to me, for me. If you'd said it—_

_Said what?_ she'd demanded. _I did say it. You left anyway. You went anyway. You did everything your own way. Suffer in your own way. Forgiving you is for stronger women than me._

But she refuses to save him. Refuses to help him.

He falls.

* * *

Shortest. Songfic. _Ever_. I suppose I could've written more, but that would've killed it. I think I may have already killed it. Guess the pairing. One I totally hate, for those of you who don't know. I like it angsty for that one. The bastard totally doesn't deserve her. Like, _at all_.

Anyway... _Savin' Me_ by Nickelback. Awesome song. Listen to it. I don't own it, by the way. Just a copy of the album it's on. I don't own _Naruto_ either.

SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION: Read _Maid Sakura_ please. I love feedback and I hate the title. Also, it's early (and vague) enough in production that properly-worded suggestions might make the cut. Suggestions for title also much appreciated.

XO


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